Elevator control having automatic reset of car travel



Feb. 25, 1969 P. F. DE LAMATER 3,429,404

ELEVATOR CONTROL HAVING AUTOMATIC RESET OF CAR TRAVEL Filed July 15, 1966 TC I n-Tc-lz CMD CLS DCL 5 24-CMD-Z3 23,24

INVENTOR. Paul E DeLomcner United States Patent 3,429,404 ELEVATOR CONTROL HAVING AUTOMATIC RESET 0F CAR TRAVEL Paul F. De Lamater, Toledo, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Reliance Electric and Engineering Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed July 15, 1966, Ser. No. 565,553 US. Cl. 187-29 11 Claims Int. Cl. B66b 1/00, 1/36 This invention relates to elevator controls and more particularly to such controls which under certain conditions automatically establish a destination for an elevator car.

Heretofore it has been known to set automatically a car to run to a given landing in response to certain conditions. In multiplex elevator controls all but one car, the free car, were set to return to a main landing after they satisfied the service imposed upon them. Other systems require all cars to operate until they encounter a main landing such as a lobby or top dispatching landings. In the copending application of M. C. Yeasting, Serial No. 14,074, filed Mar. 10, 1960, for Elevator Controls, a control is disclosed for a plurality of cars which parks the cars at the location they completed their service to registered calls and which causes cars when placed on service downward to set themselves for travel to a lobby near the lower end of the hatchway. This latter form of control has been prompted by the tendency of passengers to fail to register car calls for the lower lobby when they gain entry to the car by registering a down hall call.

An object of the present invention is to improve the operation of elevators.

A second object is to automatically establish a destination for an elevator car.

A third object is to negate the automatic setting of an elevator car to run to a destination in response to an expression by a passenger that another destination is desired.

A fourth object is to increase the efficiency of an elevator by avoiding unnecessary operation thereof.

In accordance with the above objects, one feature of this invention resides in means for automatically setting a car to run to a landing at which preferred service is,

provided when the car has received passengers while running toward that landing. The expression by the passengers that they wish to travel to a landing between the car and the preferred service landing as by the registration of a car call for such intermediate landing negates the automatic setting means.

Another feature involves actuating the automatic setting means in response to the stopping of the car for a hall call or in the case of an idle car parked at a landing and opened by registration of a hall call at that landing in response to the rendering of that car accessible to prospective passengers at the landing.

A further feature comprises negating the automatic setting means when a car call is registered before the doors of the car are closed at the stop which actuated the setting means.

In the illustrative embodiment the control comprises a latch circuit which is actuated for an initial interval by a hall call stopping signal applied to a car set for down travel while that car is effectively at the landing of the hall call and which becomes effective to set the car to run to a preference landing by actuating a car call registering means for the car for that landing. Such actuation occurs when the car has been accessible to intending passengers a sufiicient interval for them to enter and register car calls. If they indicate a destination other than the preference landing, as by registering a car call before the car doors are fully closed following a car start signal, the

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latch means is reset and no artificial car call is registered. The reset means is rendered effective by actuation of latch means and is activated by any car call.

The above and additional objects and features will be appreciated more fully from the following detailed description when read with reference to the accompanying drawing showing an across-the-line diagram of a car call registering and cancelling circuit, a car call stopping circuit, the automatic means for setting a car to run to a preferred landing, and the negating means for said setting means all as might be applied to a typical elevator.

While the present invention is applicable to elevator systems including but a single elevator, it offers advantages in a multicar elevator system and has been employed with particular advantage in group supervisory controlled systems wherein cars are distributed throughout the path of travel when they have satisfied the service requirements imposed upon them. One such system is disclosed in the patent application of Paul F. De Lamater entitled Elevator Control, Serial No. 565,551 filed herewith. Accordingly, the disclosures of that application are incorporated herein by reference to disclose a mode of combining this invention in one elevator car control and group supervisory system.

In the drawing the circuits illustrative of this invention have been presented in across-the-line form wherein the controlling contacts are depicted in general horizontal alignment with the relay coils they control. These bands or horizontal regions are divided in a marginal index and are numbered 11 through 27 on the right side of the drawing. The relay reference characters are listed in the index in alignment with their coils and the location of those contacts actuated by the relays are listed next to their reference characters. In order to distinguish back contacts, those which are closed when the relay armature is dropped out and are opened by pulling in the armature, from front contacts, those which are open when the armature is dropped out and are closed by the pull-in of the armature, the line location of back contacts is underlined. Thus the vernier crosshead relay VC at 27 has a front contact at 19, designated in the index by 19, and a back contact at 24, designated in the index by 24.

Two types of relays are illustrated. One has but a single coil which when energized pulls in its armature and when deenergized drops it out. The car call stopping relay CCS at 18 and the vernier crosshead relay VC at 27 are of this type. The second has a latch coil represented by a circle with a chord across its upper portion and a reset coil represented by a circle with a chord across its lower portion. Energization of either the latch or reset coil singly pulls in the relay armature, energization of both develops cancelling flux in the armature so that simultaneous energization has no eifect on the armature and permits it to remain dropped out and the successive energization of the coils first pulls in the armature and then drops it out. The car call relays C1 to TC and main floor call registration relay CMD are of this second type.

The present invention produces an artificial car call for the lobby or lower preference landing to set the car to run to that landing by pulling in main floor call registration relay CMD through energization of its latch coil at 24 when a descending car stops for a hall call at a landing above the lobby. The artificial car call is registered as the door of the car is closed at the stop unless.

relay CMD is reset by having its reset coil at 23 energized by the registration of a car call.

As shown in the drawing a car is provided with a floor selector (not shown) having a plurality of segments 2 arranged to be engaged individually by brushes 3 and 4- on a crosshead (not shown). The floor selector crosshead and the space between brushes 3 and 4 is positioned in accordance with the effective position of the car relative to the segments 2 representing the landings served by the car in the manner well known for floor selector advance crossheads. A DC. supply is connected across buses R and B. Relay V is energized through brush 3 when the car is ascending since up generator field relay contact UF at 26 is closed and through brush 4 and down generator field relay contact DF at 28 when the car is descending. The brushes 3 and 4 are of such length and spacing relative to contacts 2 that they define a call acceptance zone for a landing when the active brush engages the contact of the landing and they are separated from all the contacts and straddle the contact of the landing during the slowdown of a car and while it is stopped at a landing. Thus when the car is approaching a landing and is in the call acceptance zone from which it can be slowed to stop at the landing relay VC is energized to close its contact at 19. When the car is elfectively at the landing, that is when its crosshead is passing the landing position on the floor selector on a run past the landing, or when its crosshead is stopped at the landing position, the active brush is separated from contact 2 for the landing and relay VC is dropped out to close back contact VC at 24.

The car can be stopped by the registration of ball calls. When thus stopped, hall call timed relay HST (not shown) is energized for a short interval which is initiated when the hall call stopping controls are energized and remain pulled in for a brief interval following the cancellation of the hall call as the car is being stopped at the landing of the hall call. During the interval relay HST is energized to close contact HST at 25 and after the crosshead has been centered to close back contact VC at 24, when the car is above the second landing so that below second floor relay B2B (not shown) is deenergized to close back contact B2F at 25, and when the car is set to travel downward so that down direction locking relay contact DL at 25 is closed, latch coil CMD is connected across the buses R and B and is energized to pull in the armature of CMD. This closes a seal circuit by contact CMD at 24 to maintain the latch coil energized until the crosshead is advanced from its centered position and energizes relay VC to open back contact VC at 24. It also closes a contact CMD at 23 to enable the registration of a first floor car call and another contact CMD at 23 to enable the reset coil CMD.

If the reset coil CMD is not energized while the car is stopped, upon the issuance of a door closing signal to the car (by well known means), contact CLS at 23 is closed. During the period the car doors are open, door close limit relay DCL (not shown) is energized and back contact DCL at 23 is open. The door close limit relay can be controlled by a limit switch responsive to the position of the car doors. For example, the relay DCL can be arranged to be energized when the doors are displaced toward their open position more than two inches from their closed position and to be deenergized when the doors are within two inches of their closed position. Thus as the doors approach their fully closed position relay DCL is deenergized to close back contact DCL at 23 so that bus R is coupled to latch coil 1C at 21, if relay CMD has not been reset, through contacts CMD, CLS and DCL to lead 5. As will be described for car calls, once relay 1C is latched it remains so until either the car stops at the landing of the call or the car is reversed.

Thus the door operation is utilized as a means of ascertaining the moment the car controls are committed to make the car accessible to prospective passengers. This enables the means setting the car for travel to the preference landing either as a door opening operation for a hall call stop or in the case of an idle parked car the door opening operation responsive to a hall call at the parking landing. The activation of the means setting 4 r the car for travel to the preference landing follows the issuance of a car start signal and the termination of the period of accessibility of the car to prospective passengers as the doors approach the fully closed position. It is during this period of access that passengers can indicate destinations other than the preference landing and negate the means setting the car for that landing.

Car calls are registered by the double pole push button actuated switches having the prefix C and the landing designation as C1 to C23 and CT for landing 1 to 23 and top landing as shown at 11 to 22. If a car call is registered by a passenger in the car, the second pole of the switch interconnects lead 6 to lead 7 thereby activating lead 7 from bus R. If this occurs while latch coil CMD is energized, it energizes reset coil CMD at 23 through contact CMD at 23 to drop the armature of CMD, open the seal contact CMD at 24 for latch coil CMD. This opens the contact CMD at 23 for the automatic first landing car call registering circuit. Since the contact HST at 25 is open at this time the latch coil CMD cannot be energized again at this stop and the automatic car call registration is inhibited so that upon closing the car doors there is no effect on coil 10 at 21.

Car calls are manually registered by a button on a control panel (not shown) within the car to complete a circuit from lead 8 to lead 9 through the latch coil of the car call relay for the landing corresponding to that of the button. Closure of contact C3 connects lead 8 to lead 9 and thus bus B through latch coil 30. While the car has a direction setting, direction reversal control relay DRC (not shown) is energized to close contact DRC at 13 and couple bus R to lead 8. Thus a car call can be registered while the car is moving or stationary. When the car initiates its slowdown at a landing at which it is to reverse its direction locking relay for the direction in which it is traveling is deenergized to cause relay DRC to be deenergized (by means not shown) to open its contact at 13. At the time of slowdown initiation the car is set to move at greater than the fifth speed step by fifth rheostat relay RH5 (not shown) so that back contact RH5 at 14 is open. Thus, lead 8 is disconnected from bus R until the car speed setting is transferred from the fifth speed step to the fourth speed step and back contact RH5 at 14 closes. During the interval of interruption between the opening of contact DRC at 13 and the closing of back contact RH5 at 14, all car call relays for the car are deenergized to reset all car calls. Thereafter, while the car remains at the landing of car reversal, contact DRC at 13 remains open but contact RH5 at 14 is closed so that a car call registered subsequent to the reset operation is retained by continuous activation of lead 8.

Car call stops are initiated by energizing car call stopping relay CCS at 18. When a call is registered it activates a floor selector machine contact segment 31 for the landing of the call and closes a contact to seal the circuit around the button actuated contact, as contact 3C at 18 to activate segment 31 at 18. Segments 31 are arranged along the path of travel of brush 32 carried by the floor selector crosshead such that the segments correspond to landing positions and the brush corresponds to car travel to the landings. Thus as the car effectively approaches the third landing brush 32 engages segment 31 at 18. During an initial portion of this engagement, while the car is in the call acceptance zone defined by energization of relay VC at 27, contact VC at 19 is closed completing a circuit from bus R to contact DRC at 13, lead 8, contact 3C at 18, reset coil 30 and segment 31 at 18, brush 32, contact VC at 19, coil CCS at 18 and bus B. Relay CCS when energized initiates a stop by dropping car starting relay 08A to close its back contacts at 18 so that as the relay VC is dropped in centering the crosshead at the landing and contact VC at 19 opens an alternate circuit is available for holding relay CCS.

As the car enters its leveling door open zone the car doors are started open and door close limit relay D'CL (not shown) is energized to close its contact at 17. The initial circuit through coil COS is of suflicient impedance to maintain the current in reset coil 3C below the level necessary to develop a cancelling flux for that of latch coil 3C and drop the armature of 3C. After coil CCS is shunted by resistor 33, the impedance is reduced and a cancelling flux is developed to drop armature 30 thereby cancelling the call as it is answered.

The artificially registered call of this invention is also cancelled in the above described manner by the response of the car to that call. Once that car call is registered or any other car call ahead of the car, the car continues to run in the direction to answer the calls as is conventional. Hence if a call is artificially registered the car is required to travel to the lower preference landing to cancel it and the call sets the car to run to that landing.

From the above it is evident that the system automatically sets a car which stops or opens its doors for a down hall call to run to the lower preference landing unless a passenger indicates another destination from within the car during a brief interval after prospective passengers are given access to the car. In the absence of an indicated destination other than the preference landing the car is committed to serve that landing by having a car call imposed. While a lower preference landing has been illustrated, it is to be appreciated that the preference landing might be elsewhere and that the car could be automatically set to run to it when stopped while traveling toward that landing, or even without regard to its direction merely by the hall call stopping or hall call door opening operation. A car call registration has been chosen as the means to set the car to run to the preference landing although other means are available to establish this destination. The time interval allowed for imposing an alternate destination to the preference landing can be other than a door open interval. For example the car could be permitted to travel one landing or a portion of the distance to a landing before foreclosing the means to inhibit the artificial car call registration. Other forms of circuits can be utilized to perform the inventive functions.

In view of the above, it is to be appreciated that the invention lends itself to expansion, modification, and substitution of operating means without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the present disclosure is to be read as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having described the invention, 1 claim:

1. An elevator control for a car serving a plurality of landings including a preference landing comprising, car call registering means for registering car calls from within said car for landings served by the car, hall call registering means for registering hall calls by prospective passengers from the landings served by the car, means responsive to said hall call means for making said car accessible to prospective passengers, means for setting said car to run to said preference landing in response to said means for making said car accessible to prospective passengers, and means responsive to the operation of a car call registration means subsequent to the operation of said means for making said car accessible to prospective passengers for inhibiting said means setting said car to run to said preference landing.

2. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said means for setting said car to run to said preference landing actuates a car call registering means for said car for said prospective landing.

3. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said means for setting said car to run to said preference landing is enabled only when said car is set for travel toward said preference landing at the time said means rendering said car accessible to prospective passengers is operated.

4. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said inhibiting means is effective to inhibit the setting of said car to run to said preference landing only during the period said car is accessible to prospective passengers at the landing at which said means rendering said car accessible is operated.

5. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said means setting said car to run to said preference landing is enabled only after the expiration following the operation of said means rendering said car accessible to prospective passengers of a time interval of a duration to permit the entry within the car of a passenger and the registration of a car call by said passenger.

6. A combination according to claim 1 including a door for said car, means to issue a door close signal for said car and means to enable said means setting said car to run to said preference landing only subsequent to operation of said means to issue a door close signal at the landing at which said means rendering said car accessible to prospective passengers is operated.

7. A combination according to claim 1 including car position means actuated when said car is level with the landings which it serves and means to enable the actuation of said means setting said car to run to said preference landing only while said car position means is actuated at said landing for which said'rneans rendering said car accessible to prospective passengers was operated.

8. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said means setting said car to run to said preference landing includes latch means responsive to the coincidence of the alignment of said car with a given landing, the setting of said car for travel toward said preference landing and the stopping of said car at said given landing; and wherein said inhibiting means is a reset means for said latch means.

9. A combination in accordance with claim 8 wherein said reset means is enabled by operation of said latch means.

10. A combination according to claim 8 including means to issue a starting signal to said car when stopped at a landing and means to automatically register a car call for said preference landing for said car in response to the actuation of said latch means and the operation of said car start signal issuing means.

11. In an elevator system including a plurality of cars serving a plurality of landings, means for registering hall calls by prospective passengers for service at landings for each direction of travel available from said landings, means for registering car calls by passengers within each car for landings served by said car, control means for starting said cars in response to calls registered on said call registering means and for stopping said cars at landings of said calls, means to park each car at the landing at which it satisfies its last registered call, the improvement which comprises, means for setting each car to run to a predetermined landing in response to the response of said car to a hall call for service in a direction toward said predetermined landing, and means for resetting said setting means in response to registration of a car call for said car subsequent to the response of said car to said ball call for service in a direction toward said predetermined landing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,997,134 8/1961 Santini et a1. 187-29 ORIS L. RADER, Primary Examiner.

W. E. DUNCANSON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ELEVATOR CONTROL FOR A CAR SERVING A PLURALITY OF LANDINGS INCLUDING A PREFERENCE LANGIND COMPRISING, CAR CALL REGISTERING MEANS FOR REGISTERING CAR CALLS FROM WITHIN SAID CAR FOR LANDINGS SERVED BY THE CAR, HALL ALL REGISTERING MEANS FOR REGISTERING HALL CALLS BY PROSPECTIVE PASSENGERS FROM THE LANDING SERVED BY THE CAR, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID HALL CALL MEANS FOR MAKING SAID CAR ACCESSIBLE TO PROSPECTIVE PASSENGERS, MEANS FOR SETTING SAID CAR TO RUN TO SAID PREFERENCE LANDING IN RESPONSE TO SAID FOR MAKING SAID CAR ACCESSIBLE TO PROSPECTIVE PASSENGERS, AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE OPERATION OF A CAR 